103

Stories, Methods and Systems

Bureau Bas Smets and the Urban Landscape

Abstract

Following a series of exhibitions on his work that focused on the systematics of his design and analysis method, landscape designer Bas Smets recently published Landscape Stories, a rather narrative description of the creation of the number of his projects. In a dialogue with editor Bruno Notteboom, Smets talks about the role of narratives, methods and systems in his work. Based on projects on diverse scales (from C.H.Z., a fictitious garden designed for a short film of French artist Philippe Parreno, to Metropolitan Landscapes, a research by design investigating the role of open space as a basis of urban development in the Brussels region), he expands on the role of images and maps in the creation of landscape, not only as a fiction or ‘imagination’, but also in order to develop an encompassing narrative about landscape in in an urban context that is characterised fragmentation.

OASE #98 about Narrating Urban Landscapes was presented on 1 February 2018 at the University of Greenwich, London. Lectures by Bruno Notteboom, Kris Scheerlink and Klaske Havik. Image: Klaske Havik, editor of OASE, during the presentation.

Especially for the 25th anniversary of the Kunsthal in Rotterdam OASE editor Véronique Patteeuw, talked to architect Rem Koolhaas about the realisation, current function and the future of the building. Also OASE #94 about OMA was discussed!

On 19 October 2017 OASE and the KU Leuven organised a workshop for students from KU Leuven and TU Delft. Later on OASE #98 was launched by the editors of this issue and the Scientific Board of OASE. Maarten Overdijk (Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht) and Bas Smets (Bureau Bas Smets) gave lectures.

On 18 July 2017 member of the OASE editorial staff Veronique Patteeuw discussed her work as co-editor of OASE #97 at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in New York. Click here for more details.